LHS survives hurricanes, 36-34

When Garrett Boggs intercepted a pass in his own end zone on the last play of Friday's barn-burner, Lanesboro fans breathed a collective sigh of relief. The hosting Houston Hurricanes had nearly rallied from a 36-21 fourth-quarter deficit to win the opening game of the year.

The Hurricanes scored with 44 seconds remaining to get within two points (36-34). Houston then recovered the ensuing onside kick off and almost scored on a bizarre play.

A pass from near midfield was snagged by Hurricane Dylan Lee who was grabbed by a couple of Burros to prevent him from going out of bounds to stop the clock. It became what LHS coach James Semmen called a "scrum" as more Burros arrived while several 'Canes attempted to push the pile forward. Somehow another Houston player ended up with the ball and raced away down the sideline. Will Semmen was the lone Burro to notice what had happened and made a TD-saving tackle at the Burro 15.

After quarterback Christian Sires ran to the LHS 10, Houston coaches had a decision to make. With only three seconds remaining, a potentially game-winning field goal was an option as Alee Boelter had made four of five extra-point kicks but also had missed a previous field goal attempt from short range. Houston opted for a play from scrimmage; a Sires pass that was picked off by Boggs in the end zone as time expired.

The Burros had stormed out to a 21-0 lead, scoring on three of their first five possessions. After two early interceptions by Burros Liam Dorn and Gabe Decker, Houston finally put together two scoring drives to get back within a touchdown at 21-14.

Lanesboro answered with a six-play, 69-yard drive to make it 29-14 at halftime.

Houston opened the second half with a TD drive (29-21). But once again LHS replied immediately with a two-play, 70-yard possession, and the Burros led 36-21. At that point the Burro offense stalled, and its final five LHS possessions were all three-plays-at the-punts.

The Burros twice took possession on downs before Lee broke a 52 yard run to make it 36-27 with 10:32 remaining.

While the Burro offense seemingly could go nowhere, Niko Anderson forced a Houston fumble which was recovered by Clay Olson at the LHS 27. The next Hurricane possession ended at the Burro six yard line with the missed field goal. Houston finally did score after 36 and 12-yard pass plays set up a Sires four-yard TD run, closing the margin to 36-34 with 44 seconds left to play.

Sires was everywhere, rushing 25 times for 88 yards including TD runs of 2, 1, 18 and 4 yards. Despite three interceptions, he also completed 18 of 37 passes for 338 yards.

But all the aerial scoring came from Boggs who completed 5 of 10 for 82 yards with no interceptions. Four of his five completions ended up in the end zone. Boggs had a 47-yard scoring pass to Anderson and a seven-yard TD toss to Gabe Decker. He also completed a pair of two-point conversion passes to Kole Ruud.

Anderson rushed 29 times for 117 yards including two touchdowns (32 and 48 yards) in addition to his TD reception. That pass went for about 30 yards in the air with Anderson covering the final 17 on foot.

In addition to his TD catch, Decker carried three times for 86 yards including a 73-yard TD run.

LHS was outgained overall with Houston totaling 540 yards compared to the Burros' 327. The 'Canes averaged 7.0 yards per play with LHS not far behind at 6.7. But with the Burros unable to move the ball in the second half, Houston snapped the ball 77 times to only 49 for Lanesboro.

Both teams scored five touchdowns, so the ultimate difference came on extra points. The first Burro extra-point kick was blocked, but Luke Rogers kicked the next two one-pointers. LHS also converted both two-point attempts.

Houston went for one point each time with Boelter good on four of five.

Turnovers and penalties were critical as LHS had no turnovers while Houston lost possession four times (three interceptions and one fumble). Houston was penalized 13 times; the Burros only five times.

Sires was sacked six times. Semmen was the leading tackler with 13 stops including half a sack. He also broke up three passes. Jeremy Hanson had 12 tackles including one-and-a-half sacks. Anderson had nine tackles for LHS including two sacks. Tylar Miller also had a sack and broke up a pass. Grayson Stocker broke up two pass plays.